Landscape Maintenance at Gainesville Rental Properties

Landscape maintenance gainesville fl rental properties

Today, we’re featuring one of our area partners: Elena Mendenhall, Director of Property Management at the RE/MAX Professionals Property Management Division. Elena has kindly agreed to share her thoughts on landscape maintenance at Gainesville rental properties.

If you’re a property owner interested in learning more about how Elena’s new Property Management Division can help, visit their website HERE or send her an email by clicking HERE.

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Managing a rental property takes a lot of time and effort. 

Elena Mendenhall

Depending on how many units you have across our region, it can seem overwhelming for the small business owner to keep track of them all. From maintenance requests to collecting payments to new leases, there’s a lot to take care of.

That’s where we come in. My name is Elena Mendenhall and I’m the Director of Property Management for the RE/MAX Professionals Property Management Division. I was born and raised right here in Gainesville and I attended the University of Florida for both my undergrad and master’s degrees. I obtained my MBA from the University of Florida in 2017. As a proud Gainesville native, I’ve been involved in the real estate industry for a long time, including managing the Property Management Division at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty. Now I’m launching the new Property Management Division here at RE/MAX Professionals.

What is residential property management?

Simply put, residential property management is a contract between RE/MAX Professionals and a property owner. We work with our clients to develop custom solutions to meet their needs. Some clients want us to handle everything for them. Others only need us to manage certain aspects of their rental operation.

We use a world-class property management software for both tenants and owners called Appfolio, giving both parties convenient (& mobile-friendly) 24/7 access to their account.

Who do we serve?

Our focus is currently on residential rental agreements. Commercial facility management may be something we look at down the road. As far as who we serve within the residential rental world, that’s easy: everyone! From the single property owner to those who have duplexes to the largest apartment complex, we work with clients of all sizes and all focuses. Some of our clients heavily

focus on rentals for college students while others deal with single-family homes.

RE/MAX

Real Estate & Rental Properties | Golden Ocala

What services do we offer?

Since I’ve launched this division at RE/MAX Professionals, we’ve worked diligently to build our service offerings. These include

  • Managing active leases;
  • Marketing the properties;
  • Showing the listings;
  • Screening applicants;
  • Enforcing lease clauses; 
  • Rent collection;
  • Performing general property maintenance;
  • Responding to emergency maintenance calls;
  • Dealing with turnover;
  • Collecting security deposits and issuing appropriate refunds;
  • Collecting past due leases;
  • And performing evictions, if necessary.

One of the clauses we deal with in all lease agreements is managing the landscape agreement. Let’s look closer at what that can entail.

What should property owners be aware of in regards to landscaping?

To be honest, there are a lot of things to keep in mind when it comes to keeping the lawn in tip-top shape. First and foremost, when we start working with a potential client we need to determine if there is an HOA. They can have very strict guidelines when it comes to lawn care maintenance. Beyond an HOA, the city itself has a “point system” for rental properties. Improper landscape maintenance of residential rental properties in Gainesville can land you in hot water. Thankfully, we have a very strong relationship with the city code enforcement officers. We often preemptively work with the property owner to avoid these costly points to an owners’ landlord permit. After all, if a property receives too many points on the landlord permit within a certain time period, it can actually bar the property for use as a rental going forward.

As an extension of that last item, one of the things we pride ourselves on is our communication with our owner. Often, I’ll drive by a rental property to inspect it. If the tenant isn’t taking care of the yard, I’ll reach out to the homeowner so we can determine and take the appropriate remediation steps.

Each contract is different. The best advice I can give is this: your tenant needs to be able to use the equipment (if provided). If they don’t know how to, it can cause you some serious headaches down the road.

A solution for landscape maintenance at Gainesville rental properties

Landscape maintenance gainesville fl rental properties

In our role as a liaison between the tenant and the property owner, we offer multiple landscape maintenance options. These include full partnerships with companies like Sun Power Lawn Care because they can take care of your landscape maintenance at Gainesville rental properties.

Would you like to learn more about how Tom’s team can help you out? Contact them HERE or let me know you’d like their team to handle your landscaping needs when we’re setting up your rental property maintenance agreement!

Here are some great resources to help your lawn looks its best:

The Best Lawn Care Service Job in Gainesville, FL

Ask an Expert: When to Fertilize the Lawn in Gainesville, FL This Spring

How Electric Mowing Services are Revolutionizing the Lawn Industry